Carpetbaggers!?

Just for the fun of it, I just spent some time in the census records again. I noticed that the 1870 and 1880 census records online at the UVa site provide stats for the states of birth. So, considering the talk about carpetbaggers in a few places in the blogosphere, I figured I would run a little test to see just how many Northern-born folks really played a part in the great “carpetbagger” effort to control the South following the Civil War. In the end, I was more impressed by the numbers of Southern-born people who had made their way North. Of course, there is no way to tell (from the online census record stats) what Northern-born folks were in the South prior to the war. The same can be said about Southern-born folks in the North. Nonetheless, when comparing data from 1870 and 1880, I was able to dig-up some interesting stuff.

From the data found in the online census records at the UVa site, I found that…

as of 1870, there were…

10,686 Northern-born folks living in the South, BUT
124,825 Southern-born folks living in the North.

As of 1880, there were…

26,809 Northern-born folks living in the South, BUT
234,643 Southern-born folks living in the North.

From 1870 to 1880, there was an increase of 16,123 Northern-born folks living in the South, HOWEVER…

from 1870 to 1880, there was an increase of 109,818 Southern-born folks living in the North.

The break-down of where people were born and where they were living at the time of the census is shown below (please take note that I do suspect this data to be incompete). For a number of reasons, I excluded data for KS, KY, MD, MO, and WV.

That is one of the frustrating things that I encountered while compiling this data. I wish they had specifically asked how many of the Southern-born people living in the North were former slaves, or at the very least asked race in conjunction with the state of birth. I suspect that the heavy number of Southern-born folks in the North were former slaves and even free blacks. However, we have to wonder how many were also white refugees from the South or even Southerners who served in the Union army and did not return to the South. In my research, I have come across a wide range of Southerners who ended up in the North after the war; former slaves, free blacks, white refugees, Southern Unionists who served in the Union army (no matter the race), and even Confederate veterans.

Another thing that bothered me in compiling this data was the absence of numbers identifying Southern-born folks from many of the states of the deep South who made their way to the North. I know that there were refugees and former “contraband” from, for example, Mississippi and Louisiana, who ended up in the North, but the incomplete census data doesn’t reflect this. That is part of the reason why I believe the census data to be incomplete and not fully representative of the actual numbers.

Nonetheless, I think that the numbers that are revealed in the stats presents something that stands in opposition to some arguments in the past and even today. Consider the staggering difference in the numbers of Southern-born people in the North and Northern-born people in the South. I think it says something about the “fear” that some Southerners projected in their comments about carpetbaggers coming into the South (consider some of the things mentioned in the article that I cited in a post, “A few words from the past,” just the other day). Do we see anything comparable in statements made by Northerners about the massive migration of Southerners (and not just because of race) to the North?

While I started down this path looking for actual numbers of carpetbaggers, in the end, I think I may have found something more valuable.

But how clean is the data set here? For instance, I know that in Arkansas, transplants from the non-slave holding counties of Missouri were called “carpetbaggers” locally. The transplants were largely first generation Americans, sons and daughters of the immigrants from the 1840s.

Also the data seems to have skipped around several well known “carpetbaggers” of note. What about Daniel Upham from Massachusetts, living in Arkansas? Certainly he would be tallied in both 1870 and 1880.

Where are the numbers supporting large “Yankee” populations in New Orleans and Mobile? Might be the case where many “businessmen” chose to work in the south but retain permanent residence up north. Regardless of where you hang your hat, is not a “carpetbagger” a “carpetbagger”?

I agree. I wouldn’t dare try to make an argument in print based solely on the incomplete data in the census records. That is where the “living environment” of the blog is better to field these types of things, just for consideration in exchanges such as these. This also points out the folly of others who make conclusive arguments based on limited and incomplete data, as well as data that fails in the “clean” department.

As I mentioned, I was rather surprised to see the lack of data for Northern-born folks in the deep South, most especially around port areas. Then too, how incomplete is the data for Southerners in the North? It would seem that a considerable number of folks who left the South are failing to show up in the Northern states, when it seems at least a few should be there.

However, regarding the New England-born folks in Va., are you referring to my earlier comment in which I was talking about Virginia-born folks in New England?

Ultimately, this sort of information helps to make the point that the complexities of society and those who lived in it were far greater than some consider.

This actually offers something for further dicussion on another topic. I’m particularly interested in a “different set” of Southern Unionists. In the examination of Southern Unionists, we typically focus on those who remained in the South during the war and sided with the Union. However, there were quite a number of folks who were born in the South and were culturally Southern, yet had removed to the North prior to the war (especially those who migrated to places like Ohio and Indiana) and sided with the Union, or simply remained in the North opting not to return to the South to contribute in any way to the Confederate “cause.”

Perhaps I’m biased because she was from Page County, but Bethany Veney offered a great window to her experiences as a slave and she was among those “Virginia-born” folks who ended up in New England. If you have never read her account, take a look at this link. Unless something else surfaces at some point, to my knowledge, her account is the most complete of any of the former slaves who lived as slaves in the Shenandoah Valley.

I have had the good fortune to exchange e-mails and speak with Veney’s g-g grandaughter, who also lives in Worcester, Mass.

Craig, O.K., got it. That’s another element worth considering in the South at the time of the war. There were those Northern-born folks in the South who still clung to Union, and those who adopted the South and sided with it (Hotchkiss). Incidentally, Page County’s rep to the secession convention was born in NY, having moved to Virginia in the 1840s.

I know it’s just more worthless wishing on my part, but too bad the census records don’t reveal when Northern-born folks relocated to the respective Southern states.